A/N~ I am glad of all the follows, and favorites. As always love and gratitude to all who are enjoying this story. Please continue to read, enjoy and review. Review and let me know what you think. ~A

Reconnoiter and Recovery

"Ok so the 411 on those guys. I didn't recognize all of them but the guy with dark hair and the beard. He's like mega-rich and a big deal. He's one of the Avengers, yeah uhm, Iron Man, he flies around in a metal suit taking out bad guys. The big guy who kinda dissed Trick I think is supposed to be Thor, the God of Thunder." the young Shifter said in a gossiping tone. "Not sure about the other guys, but I'm going to say they're probably Avengers too."

"At least you got dissed by a god, Blood King," teased Annie affectionately.

"Not like it's the first time," Trick shot back with a smirk.

"It doesn't exactly help the matter that someone is drawing attention to the fact that the fae exist." Dyson said dryly.

"I'm sure that will thrill the new Ashe no end." Bo said sarcastically.

"From the sounds of it, the fae is an Arachne." Lauren said, ignoring her lovers reference to her new boss. Even if the charms were dissolved, she was still technically employed by the light fae leader. "Besides being part spider herself, she controls other spiders. They usually bring her food and pretty trinkets as part of some kind of vestigial mating ritual."

"Well that's something at least." Kenzi muttered, as her eyes glazed slightly.

"What that the Arachne chick gets pretty little trophies from her eight legged kleptos?" said Bo shaking her head at her friend.

"No that the eight legged kleptos haven't turned into eight legged psychos, and started bringing her food instead of trinkets." Kenzi said looking around at her friends. A couple looked appropriately horrified as the thought hadn't occurred to them.

"Agreed," said Lauren, "but the spiders this particular Arachne is leading are unusually large. Normally that would require a spell, which the Arachne doesn't have the capability of producing, or possibly a cursed item. If it were a cursed item, the spiders wouldn't be able to maintain their bodies at that size for very long. They would kind of collapse under the weight of their own bodies, after a fairly short time." the lady doctor concluded.

"How long?" Dyson asked seriously.

"That depends on the number of spiders, when the curse was done and by whom and what size the spiders have already reached." Lauren said. "Did the…Avengers mention any of these things?"

"The way they were talking there were at least eight of the little beasties left and up to a dozen. They also implied the largest spider was the size of a small tank and the smallest was the size of a large dog." Ennoi said thoughtfully.

"We have no way of knowing whether it's a spelled item or a curse, if it's a curse I'm going to say it should be wearing off soon or over already. If its something else entirely, we're screwed and so are the Avengers." Lauren said thoughtfully.

"Way to inspire the troops love," said the accented tones of Vex as he descended the stairs. Bo leapt up from the table and nearly knocked the Mesmer over with his enthusiastic greeting. Vex gave the succubus a chi laden kiss before whispering something to her that had the brunette laughing throatily before returning to her seat.

"Evening all," he greeted amiably as he moved towards the doctors seat. He leaned down and kissed her deeply and sweetly. Then pulling a cushioned stool to sit at the table beside her, lacing their fingers together under the table as he said, "So what did I miss?"

XXXXXXXXX

The next morning: Tony and Bruce were studying a viscous substance under the microscope. Clint walked into the hotel room they had turned into a lab the next morning, and asked, "So what have we found out?"

"The spiders have definitely been mutated by the meteor." Bruce said, without looking up from his microscope, "The cellular structure of their blood is saturated with gamma radiation. That explains their larger than usual size but not the spider woman."

"We have no physical evidence from the woman, but we don't believe she was mutated by the meteorite, there is no record of this type of mutation occurring .,,anywhere." said Tony with a smirk.

"So if she's not a mutant, what is she?" asked Clint with a scowl.

"Obviously, we don't know." said Tony with exasperation, "like I said we have no genetic material to examine from the spider lady. Without that we have no way of knowing what caused her to be that way. It's just guesswork."

"We're not going by guesswork," Bruce said intensely but without hear, "We're scientists."

Clint looked at the good doctor realizing h might just be pushing it, but he had to bring it up, "And if the answer isn't actually scientific?"

"What else could it be?" Bruce asked seriously curious.

"Don't know, but with the work I do, I've learned not to rule out any possibilities." Clint said with a shrug. "Maybe you guys should consider other possibilities too."

XXXXXXXXX

Kenzi was sitting on the ratty couch, in the open space of the warehouse. Dyson, Bo and she had gone over the remains of the Clubhouse after the fire. Unfortunately there were very few mementos left from the old place. The fae cops had been very thorough in their destruction. Dyson had been careful not to mention what had happened to the cops. The news however had been getting a lot of attention with the mysterious disappearances of several detectives. A gangland war had been credited with the disappearances and presumed deaths of the officers and detectives who had been involved in burning down the Crack Shack.

Hale had apparently taken a leave of absence from the precinct claiming a family emergency, telling their superiors that his father needed him to help with the family business. The fact that he had not made contact with any of them since being declared interim Ashe still bothered all of them. Kenzi and Dyson were feeling especially snubbed by the lack of communication from their close friend.

Kenzi shook her head slightly to clear it of the morose thoughts. She went back to studying the heavy tome she had been looking at in the Dahl. Ennoi had given it to her, it was a history of the Werewolf community. From Ennoi's beginnings to more recent times when Misha had gone missing for several decades.

When the Spirit wolves, all except the Alpha female, stood and prowled silently to the door. Kenzi put the heavy volume on the floor and followed them. They sat and waited for her to open the door and waited for Dyson to lock his vehicle and enter the ware house. The wolves went through their ritual of scenting the werewolf, before returning to their previous locations around the Den.

Kenzi raised her arms to wrap them around his neck as he lifted her by the waist and gave her a passionate kiss. He lowered her back to the floor and she led him to the couch, while asking, "Are you hungry?"

Dyson pulled her down onto his lap as he flopped onto the couch which gave a warning groan. He gave a wolfy grin and said, "I grabbed a little something for lunch, but we can go get something from the Dahl later. Of course, if you're referring to something even more appealing to nibble on…" he said as he nuzzled her neck.

Kenzi giggled as he nuzzled a particularly ticklish spot on her neck, just above the chain that held the sword charm. Instead of answering his veiled hint, Kenzi asked, "Anything interesting going on at work today?"

He huffed slightly with amusement and frustration but answered easily, "No mention of large spiders, bank robberies by humans or other, or reports of a spider women today. So for the moment we're good." He gave a sighing groan as the Elder turned to lay across his chest and between his legs to gaze up at him. Her body moving against his causing a very predictable response from his own. "God woman what you do to me."

"I promise babe, the feeling is mutual." Kenzi muttered in response as she nibbled at his collarbone.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Dyson said with an almost wolfy whine. Kenzi pretended not to notice the sound, D-man would just deny it anyway.

"You know why." Kenzi said a little sadly. "If we claim each other before the Coronation then you'll have to challenge me again. I really don't want to have to go through the whole self-sacrificing thing you have going on."

"Three bites, Kenzi, not two and the battle to prove who the Alpha is between the two of us, doesn't have to be witnessed by anyone outside of family." the werewolf said calmly, "For us technically that's Ennoi, Dougal and your grandmother if she's available."

The Elder heard the sub vocal growl her lover used when he said his own fathers name, "What happened?" she asked.

With a huff of frustration, Dyson lifted the smaller woman off of his lap and stood up to pace. Kenzi let him go, knowing this was part of his way to relieve frustration. "My father, we had another argument. He wanted me to pressure you into finishing the Claiming rituals. He claims he wants to have grandchildren, I still think he's hoping to push another Challenge between us with me coming out on top."

He stopped and looked over his shoulder as Kenzi had burst into laughter again. Thinking back over what he had said, he gave a smirk and said, "That's not what I meant and you know it you little vixen." He turned and pounced on the couch over her and the pair participated in a short but enjoyable wrestling match. In which they finally ended up on the floor with Kenzi on top for good measure. Tickling him under his rib cage, until he said, "Uncle!"

Kenzi gave her own winsome smile, before folding her hands carefully on his chest and lowering her head to rest her chin on her laced fingers. "Do you want to have…cubs, Dyson?" she said with a thoughtful smile.

Tucking some of her tousled hair behind her ear, before he said, "With you, and only you, yes someday. Not right away though, when we are both ready for them. I would love to have cubs with you, my beautiful wolf." he said and she smiled at the rumble she could feel through his chest as he spoke. She felt the strange sensation of an answering rumble, then realized it was her stomach rumbling.

Dyson laughed as he felt it too, and he said in a deep Irish brogue, "Ach, the shame, I have not provided for my mate and future cubs. Me poor vixen be starving away to a thin wisp of a lass." He said sitting up and growling into her neck, "Shame on me," he repeated and gave her a smack on the butt before saying, "Go get ready so I can take you and feed you before the mama wolf over there gives me the evil eye again."

Kenzi jumped up and went to the screened off area she was using as a bedroom. As Dyson headed over to where the Alpha female had built her nest for the future cubs she was producing. Even Ennoi didn't understand how that was happening, only that it was. Ever since the she-wolf had begun building the nest she had been giving Dyson what Kenzi referred to as the stink eye. Ennoi didn't know how to explain that either.

Dyson suspected it had something to do with his not accepting Kenzi as she was, before her transformation and not handling things in a better fashion since then. Something he couldn't argue with, because he knew his behavior had been deplorable. However, he was working very hard to make up for it and treat Kenzi like the Queen she was. Not just the Queen of Shifters but the Queen of his Heart, something he should have recognized long before her change.

Kneeling by the nest he raised his hands in a sign of non-aggression as he heard the warning growl from the pile of cardboard, glass, and various other items that most people would call garbage. "It's alright little mother, Just taking our girl out for something to eat and wanted you to know. I bought you something too." He said slowly taking a bag out of his pocket.

Rolling the edges of the bag down, revealed a bag fill of colorful marbles. The wolf moved forward slightly to look down at the sparkling glass balls before looking back up at the werewolf with a yip. "They're for you for the cubs. I thought they would be beautiful for the eyes. What do you think?""

The female gave a feral grin and carefully mouthed the marbles and swallowed them. She then stroked her cheek against Dyson's cheek and moved back into her nest and settled back down.

"So how's it going?" Kenzi asked. Dyson stood and turned to find his girlfriend dressed in a metal studded corset and wine colored long sleeved blouse. The high heeled boots she wore gave her a scant couple of inches. The Belt of Strength covered and yet enhanced the leather pants she wore that molded her small frame like a second skin. "Well?" asked Kenzi after another moment of intense scrutiny by the werewolf without comment.

"You're stunning." Dyson said almost breathlessly.

Kenzi paused and smiled and Dyson was quite sure he saw a slight pinkening of her cheeks before she said, "Natch, but that's not what I asked."

Dyson did blush as he said, glancing back at the nest, "Making friends, and influencing she wolves."

She smirked, as she said, "Again natch, with that wolfly charm of yours."

"Shall we go?" asked Dyson as he offered Kenzi his arm. She looped her small hand through his elbow and said, "Thank you kind sir." as they headed out of the warehouse arm-in-arm.

XXXXXXXXX

It was petty but immensely satisfying, Trick could admit to himself. The jump and guilty tension he saw in the new Ashe's body language as he said, "Good evening Hale. I haven't seen you in the Dahl of late, so I thought I would come bearing gifts, to remind you of old times."

He placed a duffle bag on the new Ashes desk, opened it and pulled out a wooden box out of the tote and handed it to Hale. The younger fae took the box and placing it on the desktop before unlatching it and opening it.

Inside the velvet lining was a large bottle and Hale saw the label and swore he felt his heart stop and then thump. The bottle of wine he had just been given was worth more than 130,000 dollars. His father would have snatched the bottle out of his son's hands and run for his cellar to secure the rare vintage. The young fae was speechless and stared at Trick with his mouth hanging open.

"Well that's a significant improvement over your fathers usual response." said Trick with a hint of his dry amusement dripping through. "Don't worry knowing your father he will have that for his cellar if he has to pry it from your cold dead fingers. So while appropriate for your current position among the fae, this is more your style."

With that the Blood King pulled the next item from the duffle which was an old fashioned hat box. That was when Hale began to wonder if the duffle was be spelled. The wooden crate that had carried the wine alone was longer than the duffle bag. The wine bottle itself was almost as tall as Trick himself, it shouldn't have fit inside the duffle let alone along with the hat box.

He should have thought of these things but Hale was a hat connoisseur. As he pulled the lid off of the box. He saw the discreet label of one of the best haberdasheries on the East Coast. The fedora that sat inside was sheer perfection itself.

"Trick…" he said in wonder as he lifted the hat from the mounds of tissue paper that held it in place and protected its perfection from the sides of the hat box.

The Blood King laughed and said in a slightly relieved voice, "There you are, Kenzi said it might take the whole wardrobe, depending on how far down the rabbit hold your father and the council had dragged you."

Kenzi's name brought Hale's eyes up and to the face of the pub owner. "What? What are you talking about?" asked Hale bewildered. Trick took it as a good sign though that the younger fae still held onto the precious fedora.

He also felt a little rumble of concern though because the young Ashe looked very much as if he had just woken up and his dreams hadn't exactly been pleasant. He asked, the concern coloring his voice, "Hale what is the last thing that you remember?"

Hale's brow wrinkled and he said, "Uhm, my father telling me that they had to see me before I made my connection with the earth, then I..I don't remember."

Trick looked even more concerned, "Come with me, I think we need to see Ennoi right away. But we need to do it, how did Kenzi put it, 'On the down low?"

He took the young Ashe's arm and led him down a hall, then another. He pressed a section of the wall and a door slid back showing a tunnel with stairs. The pair started down the stairs and the door slid shut behind them, just as Sturgis Santiago came around the corner with two beefy fae guards and Lauren's fae assistant from the clinic. All heading toward the office of the Ashe.